There was drama courtside at Barclays Center on Sunday afternoon as Kyrie Irving — ineligible to play because of New York City’s COVID-19 vaccination rules — made a grand entrance in the second quarter and then watched his teammates face the Knicks from a seat across from the Nets' bench.
There was more drama on the court as the desperate Knicks stayed close to the undermanned Nets until the last second.
But in the end the Knicks couldn’t contain one-man band Kevin Durant, who scored a season-high 53 points in the Nets’ 110-107 victory.
The Knicks used an 11-2 run to take a 103-101 lead on RJ Barrett’s driving layup with 2:52 left in the fourth.
But Andre Drummond (18 points, 10 rebounds) tied it with a dunk and, after a Julius Randle turnover, Durant hit a three with :56.3 left to give the Nets the lead for good at 106-103.
Randle (26 points) converted a dunk to make it a one-point game and Durant missed a three-point attempt to give the Knicks the ball for perhaps one last good shot. Coach Tom Thibodeau called a timeout with 13.4 seconds left (and seven seconds left on the shot clock).
Evan Fournier (25 points) tried to pass inside to Mitchell Robinson, but the ball was deflected by Bruce Brown and the Nets took possession. Durant was fouled on the ensuring inbounds pass and hit a pair of free throws to make it 108-105 with 6.6 seconds left.
Rather than give up a three-point attempt, the Nets fouled Barrett (24 points), who hit two free throws with 2.6 seconds left. It appeared as if Barrett was trying to miss the second free throw, but it hit nothing but net, and Durant hit two more free throws with 1.8 seconds left as the Knicks suffered another close loss.
The Nets (35-33) won their third straight overall and sixth in a row against the Knicks. The Knicks (28-40) ended a seven-game road trip with their second straight defeat.
Durant set the all-time record for points scored by a Net against the Knicks, breaking the mark set by John Williamson (43 points on Feb. 12, 1978).
The Nets came out and scored the game’s first 11 points and led by as many as 12 in the first quarter. But the Knicks pulled to within three points and trailed at the end of the quarter, 35-30.
The Knicks took their first lead at 38-37 with 9:54 left in the second on a reverse layup from Obi Toppin, who returned from a hamstring injury.
The Nets, who were without the injured Seth Curry (ankle), went into halftime with a 62-60 lead. Durant had 16 points in the first quarter and 27 in the half.
The Knicks led 73-71 midway through the third quarter. Durant tied it with a floater, gave the Nets the lead with an uncontested drive and jam and — after Alec Burks tied it at 75 — followed with a three-pointer to give the Nets a 78-75 advantage.
The unvaccinated Irving walked to his seat at about 2 p.m. as the teams played with under five minutes left in the first half. He was greeted with a thunderous ovation and later embraced Nets owner Joe Tsai.
On Saturday night, Irving attended the ACC Tournament final game at Barlcays featuring Duke, his alma mater.
